Thursday, March 6, 2014

I wrote a piece on him in The Hindu in November 2010. This is the unedited version of the article.The snaps are courtesy his family. The Photograph with Kalaignar , MGR and MY FATHER was taken during the Nadodi Mannan 100th day Celebrations where my father was the Chief Guest. The Colour Photograph with me is from the Serial "Oviyam" made by G.N.Dhinesh Kumar in 1996 and is the only serial Nambiar acted in. I had the honour of playing his son.

MK speaks. Dad and MGR together

With MNN in Oviyam

He has acted in more films with Sivaji than MGR

The Classic VILLAIN.

M.N.Nambiar
- The Good , The Bad and the Holy.

About 20 Kms
from Coorg is the Village Cherupazhasi whose chieftain was part of the Pazhasi Raja
family. A descendant of this family was destined to achieve fame in the film
industry. He was Manjeri Narayanan Nambiar. M N Nambiar was born on 7th
of march 1919 to Kelu Nambiar and Lakshmi. His father passed away when he was a
little boy and the family wealth was all gone. Nambiar went away to Ooty to
live with his brother. At the Ooty Municipal High School he studied up to the 3rd
Form (present 8th Standard.) .

In 1934 ,
the famous dramatist, “Nawab” Rajamanickam was performing in Ooty. His
brother’s business ran into problems and the family could no longer afford to
educate him. Nambiar used to watch the plays and admired the discipline of the
boys in the troupe – getting up early and performing Suryanamaskar, exercise ,
pooja and when an opportunity came up he joined Nawab’s troupe. The Drama
Company travelled to Salem and Mysore. Nambiar started helping out in the
Kitchen and graduated to assisting in the Pooja Room but he was not asked to
act. Finally he was given the role of a
lady Judge in a play –“Nachchu Poigai” written by Kovai Ayyamuthu. Nambiar was
all ready to go on stage but the British
Government , banned the Play.

In 1935 ,
their Play “Ramadasu” was to be filmed in Maharashtra
and Nambiar went with the troupe. He played the role of a Comic with
T.K.Sampangi. The pair was called Akkanna – Madanna. He was paid Rs. 40 for
this. He spent half the amount in buying a harmonium, which is still there in
his house. In a years’ time the chief Comedian of the troupe K.Sarangapani left
and Nambiar took his place and became a huge hit with the audience. Even today
“Nawab” Rajamanickam’s picture adorns a prominent place in the Pooja room of
Nambiar’s House.

Whenever I
worked with Nambiar he used to keep us in stitches with his comic remarks as the cast sat down
to play cards during the breaks in Film shooting . Some were said with such a dead pan face that
it would have been the envy of Buster Keaton. Suddenly his normal face will
transform to the Villain with his trade mark scowl, arched eye brows and
imperious look – if you looked around you will find some fans coming ti to see
him. After they left he will look normal
and smile. I asked him why he did this and his characteristic reply was –
Avanga indha Nambiar a thaan parka varanga – they have come only to see this (
the Villain) Nambiar and smile….

In 1937 he shot for the film “Inbasagaran”
which was never released as the film was burnt in a fire. Nambiar made steady
progress and then joined the “Sakthi Nadaga Sabha” . In 1944 he essayed the role of the “Rajaguru” in the
Play – Kaviyin Kanavu written by
S.D.Sundaram to such perfection that his reputation as a villain , was well
established. Nambiar soon signed up with Jupiter Films as a Studio Artiste and
played a comedian in the film “Vidyapathi “ – 1946. He married Rukmani the same
year.

This was followed by A.S.A.Sami’s “Rajakumari” - 1947 , which featured his
friend M.G.Ramachandran, acting for the first time as the hero. Nambiar then
played the lead male role (along with S.V.Subbiah) in the film Kanjan – 1947. Then followed
Abhimanyu, Mohini and Velaikkari. The 1950 Modern Theatre Production “Dhigambara
Samiyar” was a high point
in his career as he donned 12 roles. This was written by Vaduvur Doraiswamy
Iyengar and directed by T.R.Sundaram. Nambiar the Villain was well and truly
established.

MGR who was
elder to him by 4 years considered Nambiar his senior in the Profession. Their
friendship which dates back to the early Jupiter Films days is well known. In
fact Director Pa. Neelakantan once asked Nambiar as to why he never stood up
when MGR entered the set ( everybody did) – Nambiar’s answer was – “He is my
friend , why should I stand up when a friend walks in ?”. Pa neelakantan went
and reported the conversation to MGR who asked him “Why do you go and ask him
all this? “. MGR was the best man ( Mappillai Thozhan) in Nambiar’s wedding and
carried nambiar’s first born Sukumaran on his shoulders up the Palani Hills for
the boy’s Annaprashanam in 1948.

Nambiar
steadily rose and became the Industry’s “Bad” man , his roles in Enga veettu
Pillay , Aayiraththil Oruvan, Kuditirundha Kovil, Raman Ethanai Ramanadi,
Padagotti, Then Nilavu, His Dual role of a Good man and bad man in Rahasiya
Police 115, the suave and sophisticated Villain in Annayin Aanai readily come
to mind. During this time he also essayed Character roles like in films like Pasa malar
. We must remember that Nambiar had stiff competition from the likes of
P.S.Veerappa, S.A.Ashokan, R.S.Manohar and a host of others and yet managed to
retain his place.

His role as
the 100 year old man in Sridhar’s Nenjam Marappadhillai is a classic.
When shooting the scene where he chases the lead pair in a horse drawn carriage
, the wheel of the carriage suddenly came off , the driver panicked but Nambiar
asked him to drive on and as the carriage over turns jumped out, took aim and
shot. This was not a planned stunt but an accident that Nambiar, the consummate
professional used to the film’s advantage. Nambiar with his years of Physical training in the Drama
troupe ( he practiced Yoga and played badminton in a court built in his house)
, regular classes in Sword fighting and the other Indian Martial arts was fully
equipped to handle the rigours of getting bashed up by the hero.

Nambiar was
a very loving family man and all through his career he spent six weeks with his
family in Ooty for the summer. He would refuse any assignment that called him
away during this time. In a few exceptional cases he asked the producer to
shoot his scenes in Ooty. He abstained from Alcohol, Tobacco and led a
disciplined life. In fact he always chastised us for slouching in a chair and
asked us to sit erect with our back straight. I had the privilege of acting
with him in what was probably his only Television serial – Oviyam , where he
played a Zamindar , my father.

Baghyaraj in
his film Thooral Ninnu Pochchu ( 1982) paid his respects to a practice that Nambiar
always followed. In the title shot – An old man will mix the rice and take the
first handful to feed his wife. Nambiar always gave the first mouthful of food
to his wife and in her absence in Sabarimala to his sons. All through his
professional life he only ate food prepared by his wife – who accompanied him
everywhere. Even the water he drank was specially double boiled by her. He held on to this practice
till his final film “Sudesi” in 2006 with Vijayakanth.

Nambiar
first went to Sabari Mala , with his Guru Nawab Rajamanickam in 1942 and
thereafter made more than 55 pilgrimages. One can say he was to a large extent Instrumental
in popularizing the Temple , as he was the “Guru Swamy” for many popular film
stars, Industrialists and so on. His
group was close to 200 strong. There was perfect equality and discipline as
both the rich and poor were treated alike. This earned him the sobriquet – Swami.

After a career spanning 71 years of acting in
films , probably a record he passed away on the 19th of November
2008 and will be
remembered for being the Good man , who was Bad on screen and Holy in real
life.

pls note MGR is 2 years older than M.N.Nambiar . you mentioned wrongly that as 4 years . Mgr born 17 January 1917 and M.N.Nambiar born March 7, 1919 . At the time of Rajakumari Mgr acted more than 15 films and for M.N.Nambiar it is his 3rd film.

Funny and irony of life. No one seem to appreciate the villains. I dont see any comment. Thanks for the note Mohan thats a good one. But if you see, the bad guys in films always turn out to be just the opposite in real life.CheersKumar

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Me...

I am an actor in Tamil Films and TV & a management Graduate from XLRI. I have acted in about a 100 Films and over 4000 TV episodes. I am also a Corporate Trainer and use movies as a tool to teach .This experiential type of learning with games,movies etc has worked well with people from all areas and levels of Management. As a Philatelist my interests are Stamps on Cinema and I have a huge collection of Stamps on this subject.I have also been instrumental in the Postal Authorities honouring several doyens of the film industry by bringing out Special Day Covers and in a few cases Postage Stamps as well.I regularly give lectures on Film related subjects and have spoken about Chennai in Cinema, Nagesh , Chandrababu, Kishore Kumar, M.R.Radha to name a few. I have written articles on Famous Film personalities in The Hindu, madras Musings, Satyam Cinema magazine etc.

About Me

I can boldly state that I am South India's only ENTERTRAINER. I use Cinema and my experience of nearly 20 Years in it to conduct Training programs and Lectures in English and TAMIL on Communication , Team Work , Leadership , Personal Growth , Planning etc. These are peppered with anecdotes and stories from the Film Industry. I use Hollywood , Bollywood and Kollywood films depending on the audience.

I also collect Postage Stamps on Cinema and my collection has been awarded a few medals at State and National level comptitions.

I give lectures on film related subjects - I have spoken to a wide variety of people from Judges of the High Court to Lovers of Cinema and Chennai City.

I am married to Padma - (since 1979) and we have two children. My son V.P.Raman is a practicing advocate and is married to Sowmyah , they are blessed with a son - my grandson - Rudra. My daughter Vidyullekha is a succesful actor in Tamil and Telugu films.

I was recently awarded "Distinguished Alumni Award" by my alma mater - XLRI , where I did my MBA - 1978 batch of PGDBM. I have also been awarded the Tamil Nadu State Govt Award for best character award.